The Hedgehog Dilemma in Kiznaiver's Narrative

After having finished Kiznaiver, I was quite disappointed by the shallowness of the story, but what I did find interesting was its commentary and aversion to the Hedgehog’s Dilemma, which is constantly brought up in conversations about Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Love Live! Sunshine!! Episode 1 - Review

After having done minimal research on this new Love Live series, I decided to give it a try despite having dropped the first season of the original series.

Having watched the first episode to this series, I can say that I am now tempted to return to the original to see if I maybe lost interest too quickly as this first episode was pretty appealing, though as with everything, is not without its flaws.

The plot thus far is that the main character, being inspired by the School Idols from the first series, has decided to start a School Idol Club at her school, though the Student Council President is very much against the idea, which does little to dissuade the protagonist.

It sounds pretty basic, though the series makes sure to pack as much exposition as it can in as little time. Though this is purely subjective, at the four minute mark I thought we’d already been twelve minutes in, and that’s typically not a good sign to me. The difference with this episode is that the longer it went on, the better it got, though I might need to rewatch it to learn all of the characters’ names considering that this series has nine group members as opposed to the previous series’ eight.

Thus far, not all of their personalities have been showcased, though a few seem samey because we’ve yet to have the spotlight shone on them. The main character is incredibly happy, and suffers from Haruhi syndrome where she realizes she’s painfully normal, and is determined to make herself stand out with this idol gig. Because of the series she’s in, I doubt she’ll turn into god, but we’ll have to give it some time before that’s perfectly clear, haha.

Aside from MC, there’s a couple of other archetypes. There’s a shy girl and a chuunibyou character, though she seems more anime-oriented than video game-oriented, which makes me think she’ll be a cross between Kuroneko from OreImo and Kobato from Haganai.

Additionally, a plot-important character in the form of (桜内 梨子 Sakurauchi Riko) shows up to slow down the pace just enough to not turn this episode into a too-quick-to-follow mess. This girl is a pianist, and is looking for inspiration to write an Oceanic song, or so she claims.

At the end of the episode, she transfers to the same class as the MC to move the plot forward, but she then refuses her invitation to join the yet-to-be School Idol Club and the episode ends.

Truthfully, the fact that this episode ended with a cliffhanger is shocking considering the lack of drama I remember from the original series, though it’s a surefire way of keeping me watching, definitely.

While a few of my complaints stem from the fact that I can’t help but feel that this series has a lot of that same-face/same-body syndrome series like SAO suffer from, the plot helps in that all the characters are made distinct from the beginning, though I can only hope that as the series progresses they all grow to be their own person with their own goals and aspirations, however, that might be expecting a bit much considering series like these feel like an excuse to create anime in the musical genre.

Moreover, the episode’s directing was not comfortable, because as I stated before, it goes too fast, and very rarely feels like it wants to let things sink in. The original series felt like it went way too slowly for my liking, but this series seems like it might be the complete opposite. Additionally, there is a sequence where the MC is trying to stop pianist girl from jumping into the ocean and to provide dramatic emphasis, these weird camera effects were placed, which felt incredibly strange and inappropriate since we are not told outright that anybody was snapping photos of them.

However, that is as much as I have to say on this episode without rambling on endlessly. Thank you for watching, and I’ll see y’all later.

Addendum:

The camera effects from the scene where Rika is trying to jump into the sea are used in another scene in that same episode, with the same effect, though in that part of the episode they feel more normal. That part of the episode occurs a little bit after the first time the effect is used, though I still found it deeply distracting.

Furthermore, I really did forget that Umi existed. She must not have left a lasting impact for me to have forgotten her, cause I believe she had already been introduced by episode six when I dropped the series. I’ll have to give the first series a try to go ahead and see what’s up there.

ReLIFE Episode 1 - Review

ReLife Episode One begins by introducing us to the main character who bears a visual similarity to the protagonist from Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou. This guy is 27, which is immediately different from most anime protagonists, and it’s shown that he has a seriously hard time getting or holding down a job, to the point where his parents are currently financially aiding him. Randomly, pops up Walker Yumasaki from Durarara AKA Yoake Ryou and sets in motion the main plot: the protag, named Kaizaki Arata, will take a pill to look like a high schooler again with all living expenses paid as part of a project and a job will be offered to him after the year ends should he succeed with said project.

First off, the premise of this show was quite interesting to me. After hearing of a protagonist who was not yet another regular high school boy, I was ecstatic. But after finishing the synopsis off, I was disappointed and couldn’t help but feel like it was just gonna be a regular show.

For the most part, I’m not wrong. The animation is very standard, and the general aesthetic does remind me quite a bit of Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou, though extremely downplayed. That show seemed like it was trying to go for a budgeted version of Kotonoha no Niwa, due to the gloss and shine of most things in it. And although I thought it was a fine show, it still didn’t stand out much to me. However, this show’s aesthetic is not ugly. I do like the backgrounds which at times look painted, but mainly maintain a colored pencil look to them, which I tend to love, because of the serenity the softness of colored pencil coloring brings with it.

Still, the aesthetic will not generally make or break a show for me, which is where we get to the writing. I thought it was just fine, though we can already see some storylines writing themselves right off the bat. There seem to be two possible love interests in the form of Kariu, the coughing redhead, and Hishiro, the quiet genius. Just from glancing at the Wikipedia page for this show and looking at past shows with similar premises, I get the feeling that the protag will lean towards Hishiro and break her out of her shell, as Kariu seems fine on her own, and might even grow to like Mr. Show-Off AKA Kazumi Ouga.

Overall, though, it was fine for a first episode, though if I have anything to say, it’s that I want a ton more exposition on the ReLife project that Walker Yumasaki AKA Yoake Ryou is conducting. We’ve gotten hints on what’s what, though nothing concrete, probably cause it’s the first episode. Also, my hopes are that Kaizaki ends up romantically entangled with the teacher, should he return to his real age. I know it’s very unlikely, but their chemistry is great, and I personally think they’d make a great couple. Plus, the age different between them is just right.

That was it for this episode, though. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see y’all later.

Kiznaiver, Episode 1-- Review

Kiznaiver begins with a 12-year flashback cold open wherein the main character is running through an underground subway station, within the city, presumably at dawn, as it looks very dark, though everything is colored red, so it is slightly difficult to tell. A girl is standing on the see-saw of a tall structure which is made up of a playground and is muttering some mysterious words about how he has to “get his pain back”. At this point, she jumps off the structure into an abyss and the main character’s hair goes from red to white after we see his chest flash and we cut to the opening.

Immediately, what this scene most reminds me most of is the opening scene to the Madoka Magica anime, with the stark difference of this anime having stark realism and industrialism as a theme, similar to the video game Silent Hill 3, as opposed to Madoka Magica’s Magical and Surreal themes. Another similarity is that the scene is disconnected from the immediate timeline, though in Madoka’s case, the scene was a flash-forward and not a flashback.

Anyway, here is where we cut to the opening. Now, it’s been a while since I’ve felt so strongly towards an opening. While it can be argued that it’s merely an excess of flash for little value, the synth-pop music of Lay Your Hands on Me by Boom Boom Satellites really makes the opening stand out amongst other anime openings. The pacing of the visuals in comparison to other anime openings is remarkable in that it does not follow the standard of showing the title card within the first five to thirty seconds. Instead, the title card is shown at the very end of the opening, similar to that of Kill La Kill.

Furthermore, the genre of synth-pop is less-frequently used for openings, and it might just be bias towards the genre, but it really connected with me. Immediately after finishing the episode, I attempted to go and find the track on YouTube or wherever, but it seems to be unavailable. Might be released with the score or full soundtrack? Here’s hoping!

Anyway, back to the show, we witness an interesting bit of characterization now that Katsuhira is twelve years older than he was in the opening (wherein he was presumably anywhere from four to six), his personality has largely been affected by the cold open incident. His personality is very nonchalant and seemingly emotionless and extremely calm.

As he walks to school with his friend, he asks why a cicada is lying on the floor to which his goody-two shoes friend Chidori Takashiro responds saying it might have come to the surface in search of friends. He instead says that it just wants to mate and breed, which makes her turn red. His straightforward response makes her ask him if something’s up, and he says nothing much. She asks about his bullying situation as it seems to happen often, and usually in the pursuit of money, which makes him say it does not bother him much, and this angers her enough to leave.

Cue the bullies to enter. Oddly enough, it’s a two-bully ensemble instead of a genderbent Queen Bee scenario, and the smaller guy is more of a rough-talker whereas the larger guy is the muscle in the operation. Because it’s a two-man team, this likely explains why they seem to be on equal status as shows like The Asterisk War has taught me to associate the dumb muscle guy as the leader simply due to brute force.

Regardless, we are shown that Katsuhira is broke, and thus ends with him beaten. A funny thing is, as he is being beaten, he asks that his shirt is not held the way it is because the button might pop off and that is far worse to him than being punched.

After the continuous beating, red muscle guy, whom we can assume to be good, shows up to beat the guys for Katsuhira. He, Katsuhira, remarks that it was alright cause he is not very sensitive to pain. This ends with red muscle guy Hajime Tenga being surprised. After Tenga tests out Katsuhira’s painlessness, he makes him pass out by accident, which makes Sonozaki enter.

Now, Sonozaki seems like a Rei Ayanami X Ritsuko character in terms of personality, though her appearance certainly causes a very lengthy exposition scene which is not actually boring at all due to the metaphors used and the change in locations and use of quick cuts to other characters as things are being explained.

Sonozaki compares all characters to the Seven Deadly Sins and then tries to get as close as possible to Katsuhira with him trying to avoid touching her, and she then pushes him down a flight of stairs. Later, she remarks that this fall might have killed him, were it not for the Kiznaiver system that has people be connected and share pain/damage together. The damage done to him was done away with due to the other characters we’ve seen compared to the Seven Deadly Sins absorbing the damage, and they get bored hearing her explanation thinking Sonozaki is nonsense.

It is only when a bit of joking around goes too far and has local quirky girl Nico Niyama slapping Tenga that they realize the Kiznaiver system is an actual thing all character including Nico feel the pain of the slap.

After confirmation of all this, the episode ends.

Now, this episode was incredibly interesting to me. What interested me most about the series was Nico Niyama and the Otaku teacher in this episode prior to watching it. Not gonna lie about that. I saw some screen caps and thought it seemed really fun so I gave it a watch and did not expect to be as intrigued and moved as I was. I am very excited to see more of the series, though it is very hard to speculate where it might go.

The Kiznaiver system seems to be a way to connect people on a much deeper level than is otherwise attainable through normal means, so it is likely to be very character-driven, but the fact that it begins as sci-fi as it does, makes me wonder if it will delve into the battle genre at all. Only time will tell.

Though that is it for this one. Thank you all for watching, and I’ll see you all later.

Netoge no Yome, Episode 5-- Recap, Review

Episode 5 of Netoge No Yome wa Onna no Ko Ja Nai to Omotta? begins with a continuation of the scene wherein Sette rushes to Nishimura’s side in Legendary Age and the party is slightly perplexed by her presence. After introducing herself and saying she’s there cause of Nishimura helping her, Segawa offers her aid, only to be rejected in the most brutal way possible.

Because of her jealousy against Sette, Ako suggests that the club play a different, more exhilarating game and Goshoin finds an FPS for all of them to play called Ultra Force. Immediately, they are all thrown for a loop when they are massacred because they have no experience with this kind of game, but Ako, surprisingly, excels and saves them, making it seem like she might be better suited for this than the MMORPG scene where she met everyone.

The next day, Nishimura is in class sleep-deprived cause of how late they kept playing Ultra Force, and you can see Ako peeking into the classroom. After Nishimura spots and confronts her about this, we get the wonderful response where she basically shows us that she’s back to confusing video games and real life, except this time it’s more dangerous cause Goshoin told her to associate the enemies with normies, so now she’s basically thinking about murdering every normal person ever. Fun.

It is here that Nanako pops into the scene and asks where everyone was yesterday, because they weren’t at their usual place. It takes a second, but then Nishimura notices that Sette is Nanako’s in-game persona, causing Segawa to spiral out of control again, and Nishimura is somewhat shocked because of Nanako’s analyzation of Rusian versus Nishimura. However, because of Nanko’s playful flirting, who ends up being the most shocked is Ako, who immediately exits somewhat upset because she feels she’s lost her husband.

Afterwards, she skips school, causing everyone concern, and then tells everyone via the game that she’s quitting school to focus on LA and then disconnects. At this point, Nishimura attempts to connect with her again, and succeeds, only to be told that she’s going to try and max her character out and reincarnate because she no longer wants things the way they are.

At this point, Segawa pleads with Nishimura to get her back and he agrees, and ends up visiting Ako personally to convince her to return. He even runs into her mom and she hands him the key to her room, which ends up being a mistake cause Ako’s one of those sorts of people. You know the ones. Anyways, after saying he’ll quit school for her, he gives her a speech which convinces her that the game is fun, but real life is too, and she then returns to be with all of her friends. Back at school, Nanako helps her with the girls in her class, talking all about Nishimura as the boyfriend she’s newly acquired and the episode ends on a happy note.

At the end of the day, I think this episode was a vast improvement from the last. While we keep seeing that Nishimura clearly cares for Ako and no real movement is made in that plot, I am starting to feel like this show has a similar core to that of BOKU WA TOMODACHI GA SUKUNAI. For those who never bothered with that show, it had a very similar core cast of characters. All of the characters were incredibly bad in social situations and create the Neighbor’s Club to help them learn how to make friends. What they don’t end up realizing is that they do become friends just by being in the club, and that is similar to what happens here.

When the show begins Ako is friendless, Segawa, presumably, has only Nanako, Goshoin is alone, and Nishimura has his crew of otaku. However, by this episode, we can see that not only are the main characters good friends with Segawa admitting to her liking Nishimura, but Nanako even helps Ako ease into the social structure of the school. Because of the way this episode ended, I’d like to see Nanako become better friends with Ako and proceed to make the core cast of characters larger. Even without a central plot, the show can succeed.

Still, that’s it for this one. Thanks for watching, and I’ll you all later.

Netoge no Yome, Episode 4-- Recap, Review

So the fourth episode of Netoge No Yome wa Onna no Ko Ja Nai to Omotta? opens up on a scene wherein Nishimura and Ako are standing by some vending machines and Nishimura is drinking a soda. Ako is looking for her wallet and then remarks that she’s lost it, but says that it’s fine, that she can just sell some items from her inventory to afford one. Nishimura is then quick to point out that because they’re not currently in the MMORPG, she can’t just do that.

As Saito-Sensei says in the following scene, Ako might really be getting worse instead of better from being in the club, though it seems like her mental state might’ve really just been put there to establish the club. I’m guessing that we’ll soon move on from this plot point and onto others as we have two different, important elements in this episode.

The first is that Segawa is likely going to be outed as an Otaku and kept from maintaining her image as a regular high school girl cause Goshoin is just not having it and, plus, Nanako, who is Segawa’s pink-haired best friend, actually followed her to the club here and found out her secret. Segawa, of course, denies everything, and has a small break-down which results in her not showing up the next day.

This brings us to the next element. After Segawa does not show up for club and Goshoin doesn’t either, presumably to attend Student Council meetings, Ako and Nishimura go on a sort of date. It’s a strange construction of scenes because they get on an airship, jump off of it, get swallowed by a whale, and all sorts of other random things. At one point they even find Nekohime-san and see that she’s accrued a group of guys from her guild that are hopelessly in love with her and will protect her at any costs. So…that was something. But then we are shown how Ako and Nishimura met in a flashback. In this flashback, Ako didn’t know how to play the game, and Nishimura helped her in that regard, which then led to her stalking him for a large amount of time until she eventually joined his party, bringing us to the current point of the story.

Honestly, this was likely shown because that exact same thing happens to him, but with a new girl named Sette. She is introduced via a pretty cringey Ecchi scene reminiscent of tentacle hentai that seems like it was put there to fulfill a minimum requirement to have the show qualify as Ecchi in regards to its sub-genres. So in this scene, Sette appears through some bushes covered in tiny octopu, and then Nishimura sword-slashes the various enemies off her to find that she has no clue how to play the game, just like Ako before her. He explains this to her and Ako gets jealous, to which Nishimura replies remarking on how he helped her, and cannot just leave her alone without knowledge of the game. We later find that Ako’s jealousy was valid and justified cause Sette shows up the next day clinging to his arm, much to the party’s surprise and the episode just ends. Like that. Like a serial or something.

Honestly, this episode was alright, though it feels like the harem version of a bad cute girls doing cute things show. There is currently a central plot, but it’s likely to be overrun by other ones and it all feels a little out of place. I just wish they’d finish one arc before beginning another one. I am not a fan of loose ends, haha. Still, at least they’re switching it up, even if it’s very slowly. But anyway, that’s about it for this one.

Thank you all for watching and I’ll see y’all later.